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Good practices for healthier gardens

Many ways to act when a plant cries for help

Don't crush every bug in sight. You'll be surprised by how much work some creatures do, such as the ground beetle and the centipede. And remember, birds come to your garden to eat as well as bathe, so they need to find some bugs.

Photograph by: Fotolia
, Postmedia News

Why do plants attract bugs and diseases?

Well, in many ways, plants are no different to humans. If malnourished, neglected, exposed to unfavourable conditions, and generally mistreated, they become stressed and quickly get sick and decline.

If a plant is placed in the wrong location and starved of food and crowded with too many other plants without adequate water or air flow, its demise is almost guaranteed.

There's scientific research that suggests that plants actually send out a distress signal when stressed. Sometimes, this is because they are being attacked by some predator.

The plant, according to scientists, is literally crying out for help.

Aid sometimes does indeed come in the form of a beneficial insect that arrives to deal with the attacking bugs.

In the same way, when a plant in your garden is suffering from an insect infestation or is having its leaves chomped or is trying to fight off a fungal disease, it is crying out for help - your help.

One of the golden rules of gardening is to try to concentrate on what are generally called "good gardening practices" - things that every self-respecting gardener should do to keep plants healthy and minimize attracting pests and diseases.

Here are some basic tenets of good gardening to create an environment where plants can thrive and flourish to provide lasting beauty:

- Make sure the plant is in the right place. First, think about where you want to grow something. Then study the conditions of the location, making note of such things as light, dampness and exposure to wind and frost. Next, go shopping for plants that are perfectly suited to the conditions of that location. This will save you money.

- Don't put your newly planted plant under stress. Most plants are healthy when you bring them home from the garden centre. They want to live. They don't need fertilizing, but they do need to be allowed to get their roots established, so watch over them until they get that done; don't think once they are in the ground, your job is done.

- If your plant attracts bugs or a disease, start with the least invasive, chemical-based treatment method. Perhaps you can solve the problem by squishing the bugs or washing them off with a hose. Only then should you resort to the more aggressive use of approved, environmentally-friendly pesticides.

- Some problems call for tolerance. A little black spot, for instance, on roses or a few aphids on your petunias is not the end of the world.

- Clean up. Garden hygiene is not less important than general hygiene. Pick up rot-ting leaves and general leaf litter; they can be nesting grounds for weevils and slugs, as well as breeding grounds for disease.

- Don't crush every bug in sight. You'll be surprised by how much work some creatures do, such as the ground beetle and the centipede. Practice the art of relocating snails and slugs rather than crushing them. And remember, birds come to your garden to eat as well as bathe, so they need to find some bugs.

- Stop fighting moss with chemicals. If your lawn is full of it but you never walk or play or sit on it anyway, who cares? Moss is a beautiful plant, cultivated by some gardeners. If you can't stand the moss, change the conditions that allow it to thrive - shade, damp ground, acidic soil. Increase the light levels, add lime, aerate. If all this fails, consider doing something else, like paving or growing some rhododendrons, but stop using moss killer. It's a waste of effort.

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Don't crush every bug in sight. You'll be surprised by how much work some creatures do, such as the ground beetle and the centipede. And remember, birds come to your garden to eat as well as bathe, so they need to find some bugs.

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